


Mediocre people do exceptional things all  the time.

by tiadalma



Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:10:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiadalma/pseuds/tiadalma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce gets stuck as the Hulk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There was no surprises when Tony finally got to fuck Dr. Bruce Banner.

He started having one-night-stands again after Pepper left. She broke his stupid heart, but one had to move-on after one's girlfriend broke up with them when she couldn't handle the stress of seeing them going trough a space portal hugging a nuclear missile.

Bruce was different from his usual bed partners. When Tony first touched his shoulder, he flinched. He became even tenser when Tony started to massage his back even though he didn't say anything. But after he started to relax and lean into Tony's touch, he couldn't get enough of it.

When Tony put a hand on his cock, all his body jumped, as if he just received an electric shock.

It probably was Bruce's first time with a man, but he didn't say anything. It has probably been a while as well. Bruce gasped quietly when Tony entered him, and put his hands on Tony's lower back, but other than that, did nothing but stared into Tony's eyes, concentrating.

It was refreshing, really. Tony got too used to his bed partners Trying to impress him and pretending to be porn stars [not counting all those who where -actual- porn stars]. Now, though, he was able to focus on the feeling rather then the acrobatics for a change. It was nice.

As Tony fucked him, Bruce's breath grew heavier and heavier, and he started whining softly. Tony wrapped his hand around Bruce's cock and that made him lose it.

"Please,” He begged quietly. “Please...”

"What do you need, Bruce? Tell me.”

"Please... tell me... tell me I'm good.”

Tony was taken aback by the request, but tried to comply.

"You -are- good Bruce. You are amazing.” he emphasis every statement with a quick, hard trust.

"Genius. Beautiful. Kind. Good.” he leaned in and kissed Bruce's neck.

"You saved my life. I wouldn't be here without you. You are my family now. Don't you worry, I look after my family. This is your home now. You Don't have to run anymore.”

Bruce's eyes got glassy and his face twisted in concentration. Tony whispered into his ear:

"You are safe”.

Bruce came instantly, taking Tony with him.

When Tony came to, he noticed that Bruce has been crying, his body shaking with powerful sobs. Tony took his time, cleaning them both with moist towellettes, and then moved to clean Bruce's face, then leaning back against his pillow and pulling Bruce against his chest, Bruce's ear against his heart, listening to the soothing sound of his heartbeats, sobbing himself to sleep, his face lighted by the soft blue light of the arc-reactor.

It took Tony an uncharacteristically long time to fall asleep. 

***

Steve was going through his regular morning pushups at the gym when he noticed that someone was staring at him. Stopping at once he lifted his gaze to look at a very embarrassed Bruce who stared the floor intensely.

"How can I help you, Dr. Banner?” he asked politely.

"I. amm, I actually need you to do me a very big favor.”

Steve liked Bruce and his Shyness, but he wasn't in the mood for a long guessing game because Bruce was too embarrassed to just say what he needed.

"What is it?”

"I need to run an experiment. A very, very important one, and I need, for the experiment, I need a blood sample. From you.

Steve sighed.

"Bruce, you know I don't give my blood to anyone. There is always the risk of it falling to the wrong hands, and something horrible may happen. You, of all people, should know that.”

"It's just for testing, I swear. And I will destroy all of it when I'm done. I can sign a form if you like.”

"Can you tell me what it's about?”

"I... it's for testing. I have a theory about the Hulk and I think I can prove it, but I need to understand how the serum that made you like this works in order to see where I went wrong with my own experiment. It wouldn't hurt anyone; no one will ever see the results anyway, but please... I have to know for myself”.

He looked so desperate. Knowing that his very existence presented both a scientific miracle for some, while being the cause of personal grief for others, was an old and familiar pain for Steve. Bruce's pain, he'd known, was partly his fault. t. And he trusted Bruce, he had to trust his teammates if he wanted them to trust him.

"Okay, I trust you, but whatever you find, don't show it to anyone. Promise?”

Bruce gave him a little tired smile, as they went together to his personal lab. It was quick. After all, what are eight test tube of blood for the great captain America?

***

Tony woke up alone in a cold bed.

He shrugged, then got up to get some coffee. There was a robot he wanted to finish engineering today.

***

"Sir?”

"What do you want, JARVIS? I'm fucking busy.”

"It's about Dr. Banner, sir.”

Tony put down his pencil. He really hoped he could skip the awkwardness this time, or at least let it put it aside for one day, but no such luck.

"Well?”

"Dr. Banner asked me this morning not to let anyone into his lab since he was working on a delicate project. And now I suddenly lost all visual and audio feeds. I'm afraid something might have happened.

Tony was already running towards Bruce's lab. It wasn't like him at all to run an experiment without consulting Tony, or even asking him for help. Tony hoped that last night didn't make him do anything rush or stupid.

He met Steve on his way in, rushing at the same direction [much faster, of course. But he slowed down when he saw Tony.] Jarvis must have been very worried then. They were alone in the tower at the moment, just the three of them. Suddenly, Tony wished Thor was there with them, in case they had a Hulk situation.

The door to the lab was locked and JARIVS couldn't open it. So Steve had to use force to break it down.

The lab was shattered. Every single piece of glass was decorating the floor. Windows, Test-tubes, screens and the glass table, the lenses of JARVIS's security cameras.

In the middle of the mess set the Hulk, unmoving, a look of complete confusion on his face.

"Hey, big guy”, said Tony. They became familiar with the Hulk over the past months, so chances where he won't attack theme. But one could never be sure. “What happened?”

Hulk looked at him. He seemed terrified. That was not a good sign.

"NO BANNER. CAN'T GET BANNER. DISAPPEARED.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was weird. Having the Hulk as a roommate instead of Banner. The first Thing Tony did was Buying him a giant bed. He never saw the Hulk sleeping before without turning back into his friend, but apparently it was adorable. Also: the loudest snores he will probably ever hear in his life.

A bitter, disgusted part of him felt like nobody cared that Bruce wasn't living with them anymore. Fury nodded and noted the incident in the current week's report, but nothing else has happened yet. He said that he wouldn't do anything as long as the Hulk was under control, but the day after, some S.H.I.E.L.D agents brought the hellicarrier's cage and stored it in the basement. Just in case.

Natasha stooped visiting after the first time she came in and found Hulk on the couch, eating a literal bracket of popcorn and watching the news.

Tony kept Bruce's cell-phone in his room, but no one ever called.

Clint was a different story. He was the first of theme who actually made friends with the Hulk. They started hanging out together, fighting in the practice room half of the time and pulling stupid pranks around the tower on the other half [most of them included the Hulk hiding under a tablecloth where the table used to be and shouting “BOO!” in a volume that made the windows shutter.]

The thing was, when they first met the Hulk, Tony assumed that he couldn't speak at all. After a while, though, he simply reached the conclusion that the Hulk could talk, just didn't see a reason too, and preferred to stick to a one word vocabulary.

However, now that he was conscious all the time, his sentences became longer and longer. True, most of them where just descriptions of how he felt or what he wanted to do now. [“HULK HUNGERY.” “HULK WANT TO SMASH”. “HULK GO SLEEP NOW”]. His grammar did not improve.

That was particularly hard on Tony. The more the Hulk talked, the more Tony simply could not escape just how fucking stupid the Hulk was. When he was just a giant growling animal, Tony could dismiss him as Bruce feral side, but now, when the thing actually talked, Tony couldn't deal with how much this creature was the perfect opposite of Bruce. He knew that was the point, but it was still hard for him.

The hardest part though, was seeing The Hulk devouring happily stake after stake. Tony himself could always enjoy a good burger, but Bruce was a vegetarian for fifteen years now. Bruce would never hurt a living creature intentionally, and seeing the Hulk probably compensating for every carnivore meal Bruce has ever skipped made him sick.

He wondered how much the Hulk remembered of what Bruce saw and felt. Most of all, he wondered if the Hulk remembered what happened the night just before he got free of his prison.


	3. Chapter 3

 

Tony never really liked muties, especially the ones with the really cool powers. It seemed unfair for the rest of the people who couldn't look through hot girls clothes or turning random stuff into food. He used to have this argument with Pepper all the time. She used to say that some people [Hammer] might see Tony's intellectual “gifts” as an unfair advantage as well, and that if he was going to say anything racist where a reporter could hear him, she would take all his Iron man suits and donate them to a college theater department. God, he missed her.

It's not that Tony was racist, but his life thought him to be cautious about unknown possible dangers, and plain looking people with superpowers are a very unpredictable thing.

That wasn't a smart thing to think right now, as the telepath psychiatrist [and come on, that was just -cheating-] was looking at him with amused eyes.

"This way” Tony murmured and showed Professor X the way to Hulk's room. [They decided giving the Hulk his own place, it seemed weird letting him touch Bruce's stuff.]

The Hulk was sitting in front of the TV, and didn't even glance at them when they entered. “Amm. Hulk? Remember I told you about the man that was coming to look inside your head to see if Bruce is still there?”

The Hulk nodded and knelt on the floor next to the wheelchair and offered his giant green head to the Professor, Who laughed. “It's OK, you could sit on the bed if you like. Just look into my eyes.” The Hulk set on the bed, he seemed suspicious, but he didn't say anything as he looked down at the professor. His eyes where so green, Tony couldn't help but think how beautiful Bruce will look like with the same eyes.

The professor brought his hand to his temple and those beautiful green eyes turned dim, like there was no one there anymore. Tony was so nervous he wanted to shout. If Xavier will find Bruce and bring him back, Tony will donate a fucking herd of ponies to his school and will upgrade his chair to shoot laser beams. It already had been more than a month, and Tony started to wonder if he would ever get to see Bruce again.

"Can you find anything?" he asked after a long moment of silence.

"I can't see anyone else in there."

Tony's heart sank.

"Don't be alarmed yet. I can't feel Dr. Banner presence at the moment, but I can try to trace his memories before his disappearance, maybe I could see exactly what happened. I'm going now back a couple of minutes before when you discovered he was gone. I can see that he was injecting himself with something."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell, it's like something is blocking me from what Dr. Banner was thinking during that time. After he injected it he sat on his chair and… ho, that's interesting."

"What is it?"

I can sense him now, but he is very distant. I's like a giant wall was built about two minutes after the injunction. He is still there, but he is blocked."

Tony was just relived that Bruce was still there. All the rest wasn't important, they will figure it out.

"Can't you get through the wall?"

"I'm afraid it would take time, but I can try. I actually have a very similar case with a dear friend of mine, a mutant that the memories of most of his life disappeared behind a similar barrier. Whatever happened to him should have probably been fatal, but my theory is that his healing powers kept him alive. I think that the Hulk saved Dr. Banner in a similar way."

As he said those words, the Hulk seemed to go out of his trance.

"What would you say about me visiting here once a week to explore Dr. Banner's memories together with you and see if they could help as to bring him back?"

"YES". Said the Hulk. The professor smiled.

"Very good. I will see you next week then."

When Tony and the professor exit the room, he told Tony: "I'm so glad that he agreed. He has the most fascinating mind, but I'm afraid that since his instincts are so primal and powerful, I couldn't do anything without his permission. It's really not obvious that he would help as bring back the other personality that want to dominate his body and tried to get rid of him in the past."

Tony didn't like it when people talked about Bruce and the Hulk as they were equals, but this time he was glad the others bothered to help the Hulk feel welcome enough to want to cooperate with them.

***

Clint was woken up in the middle of the night by a very, very loud noise.  
  
He threw two knifes before he was really awake, then turned the lights on and saw the Hulk, looking tired and miserable but without a scratch, the two knifes on the floor beneath him. Clint could feel the relief rushing through him and replacing the fear, but the adrenaline was still there and he could feel his own heartbeat in his chest all the same.  
  
"What is it Hulk? We sleep at night, remember?" he said in a sleep hoarse voice.

"HULK HATE SLEEP. DREAM ALL THE TIME ABOUT BANNER, WAKE UP AND NO BANNER."

He approached and sat next to Clint, the bed cricked but didn't break.

"I TELL YOU SECERET. DON'T TELL".

"Okay, don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret."

"NOT MY SECERET. BANNER. DON'T TELL. PROMISE"

"I promise. I won't tell anyone Bruce's secret."

"GOOD." The Hulk seemed pleased, but still a bit cautious, "BANNER WAS SAD."  
It was clearly very upsetting the Hulk.

"Do you miss him?"

"BEFORE, HULK WANTED TO BE ALL THE TIME. BUT NOW HULK TIRED OF BEING".

The look in his eyes made Clint wandered if the Hulk ever cried.

"Do you remember why he was so sad?"

"THAT'S THE SECERET. IRON MAN."

"Tony? What did he do?"

"SAID WORDS TO BANNER. MADE BANNER WANT TO NEVER BE".

"Are you saying that Bruce tried to kill himself? Because of something Tony said?"

"YES".

"What did he say?"

"WORDS".

Clint knew when not to push a subject. The Hulk probably didn't remember detailed conversation anyway.

"I'm sure Tony didn't mean to hurt Bruce. He sometimes say mean things but It's because he doesn't know how to be nice".

It was probably untrue. Clint had to know exactly what happened. He wasn't close to Bruce like he was with the Hulk, But it didn't mean he was letting Tony get away with killing him. For now the most important thing was to keep the Hulk relatively calm and to prevent him from doing anything everyone would regret.

"We will talk about it in the morning. Do you think you can go back to sleep?"

"SLEEP IS FOR BUNNERS", The Hulk snorted, and Clint could tell he was feeling a bit better after telling someone his secret. "I WILL STAY WITH HOWEK"

"You can't stay here, I want to sleep and you will break my bed."

The Hulk lied down on the floor by the bed, and pulled Clint by the hand to lay on top of him and hugged him like a toddler would hug his teddy bear and fell asleep almost immediately.

Clint sighed. He couldn't really move in the Hulk strong grip, so he decided to try and go back to sleep too.

After all, sleeping in the arms of the Hulk was about as dangerous as sleeping with sharpened knifes under the pillow.

  
***  
"I need to tell you something". Steve approached Tony when they were alone in the kitchen, a guilty and determinate look on his face.

"What is it?"

"It's about Bruce. Just before he disappeared... I gave him my blood."

 _-I fucked him just before he was gone, and made him cry. I think that whatever he did, he did it because of me, because I'm a fuck up that brings nothing but suffering to everyone I know-_  Tony didn't say. Bruce was such a privet man, if he was here wouldn't appreciate the kiss and tell. And it was none to Steve's business anyway.

"So you think that your blood is what was in the syringe?"

They couldn't analyze anything from the lab. All the broken pieces where so mixed up together.

"I think he did something with it, he said that what he was going to test with it was very important. He looked serious."

"Bruce didn't want to have anything to do with anything about the super solider experiment." Tony frowned. "Unless... ho Bruce."

"What? What is it?"

"He probably wanted to use your blood as a last try to make the Hulk disappear."

 


	4. Chapter 4

Clint felt terrible for liking the Hulk more than he likes Bruce.

He didn't confronted Tony yet but whatever happened, it made Tony look like a ghost and every time he looked at the Hulk the spark from his eyes would disappear, like he was remembering something awful.

The truth was, Clint didn't like Bruce because he usually made him feel stupid.

It's not that Bruce was in his face about being a genius, not like Tony was, but every time Clint spoke to him he felt like he was seven years old, speaking to one of his teachers at school who would listen and smile and nod and later explain to him that he was entirely wrong about everything.

He could handle Tony calling him stupid in his face because Tony was a fuck up himself, even though he could build cool robots but Bruce, with his shy manners and quite voice, reminded Clint every time he spoke that Clint never went to university, or even high school, that Clint had spelling mistakes sometimes and had to take speech therapy to be able to go to undercover mission as a rich educated man.

The Hulk never made him feel stupid, and it's not because he was stupid himself.

Actually, the Hulk was far more intelligent than what people gave him credit for. Clint didn't know if the Hulk could read words, but he could read people better then Tony. He was very gullible, and believed anything you told him, unless it was meant to make him do something he didn't want to do, and then he would smash you.

The only problem Clint had with the Hulk was that he made him feel even lonelier then he felt before. Sleeping with the Hulk in his room just emphasized the fact that there was no one else who used to sleep there that could be bothered about it, just Clint. 

So tonight, Clint was going out for a change of scenery. Usually, he would call Natasha, but they drew apart a bit since The Hulk came to stay, and he is planning to get laid tonight anyway, so it's not like he needs to bring company from home.

He put on some civilian close and went to a noisy college bar. He sat alone next to the bar and ordered beer. Five minutes later, he was in a conversation with a girl with a curly hair that wouldn't stop giggling. He told her he was a working at a coffee shop and that he was from Alaska and came to town to visit his sister. The giggling girl told him that she was an art student that lived in this city all her life.

After they kissed, when he suggested that they go to her place, she giggled even louder when she took him by the hand to introduce him to her friends and telling them she was living with him. They smiled at him and looked embarrassed, but used to this kind of behavior from their friend.  
She stopped her annoying giggles the moment he started fucking her.

Hulk was there when Clint sneaked to his room in the morning. Clint couldn't help but feel like he should apologize for some reason. He didn't, of course, it was just ridiculous. He nodded to the Hulk and went to take a shower. Hooking up with a random girl wasn't as fun as he remembered, and actually managed to make him feel worse.

***

No one else was speaking to the Hulk. Maybe Thor would have if he was around, but lately he was spending more and more time at Asgard, keeping company to his homicidal little brother, and came to earth only for emergencies, at least until the Bifrost was built again.

The Hulk didn't act as he was bothered by the silent treatment. In the days when there wasn't a need for the avengers to save the world the Hulk would stay in his room or Clint's going out just to eat an ungodly amount of food in the kitchen or to smash around in the training room.

Clint knew he should freak out, being the green giant only friend could get dangerous, but he actually felt quite honored. The Hulk was a magnificent creature, and the fact that a monster that strong relied on Clint made him feel stronger himself. Clint was never anyone's only friend before. He had Tasha of course, but this was different. There wasn't any debt between them and the Hulk was as easy to read as a five your old. Tasha was all about secrets. The secrets she kept from the world, the secrets she kept from Clint and the secrets she kept from herself. Shield encouraged her lies, she was their top spy after all.

Clint loved Tasha, she was the closest person to him in the entire world, but she had her own demons to fight and sometimes even Clint couldn't tell if she was being honest. The Hulk was simple, and Clint was starting to realize how much he needed simple in his life.

He started to tell the Hulk details about his past, when they laid together on the floor at night. Not any big secrets, just little anecdotes about his past that he didn't have anyone to tell to. Natasha wasn't interested in hearing about the baby bear he liked the most in the circus or how in the orphanage he genuinely believed that if he would dig enough in the ground at the yard he would he would arrive to Australia, and how he used to sneak out every night for a month with one of his temporary friends to dig behind the bushes.

Natasha didn't like orphanage stories or circus stories or even early childhood stories. She would listen sometimes when he mentioned things about his early days at Shield before she joined in, but it was mostly because of their gossip value. For Natasha, everything had trade value and nothing was given for free. She didn't want to hear anything about Clint's past so she wouldn't have to tell him anything about her own childhood.

The Hulk didn't have a childhood of his own, only Bruce's most angry memories which apparently really sucked, and would listen to anything Clint decided to tell him. And he acted as if Clint was interesting.

Clint didn't ask him to keep anything a secret but he knew that Hulk understood that everything he told him was private.

***

“We need to talk” he shouted at Tony through the glass door of Tony's workshop. Black Sabbath where blasting through and the little robot that was just an arm on wheels was aiming a fire extinguisher at Clint, who had to silence the annoying voice on his head that told him he could throw a knife at the fire extinguisher through the glass and take Tony out under the cover of the explosion. He wouldn't do that. He was going to have a conversation with Stark like two sane adults, or at least one sane adult and one "eccentric" billionaire. 

"I know what you did to Bruce". He said when Tony finally let him in. He was lying, but experience told him that you should always look like you have more information than actually you do.

Tony looked surprised, but for only less than a second. "I didn't "do" anything to Bruce, it was mutual and consensual, and I would never do anything to hurt him intentionally. I hope you know that too."

So they had a sex. It was so very much Tony he couldn't even act surprised, or an experiment, but Tony would probably tell them is he had an experiment that went wrong, right?

"How do you know, about that anyway? I don't believe Steve told you. Where you eavesdropping? Did you tell Natasha? Or was the one that told you? "

"The Hulk told me. He is very angry at you."

"The Hulk…" Tony looked sick. "Well, I guess that we can't know when he is angry, now that he is always green."

"You could talk to him. I don't recommend it though, he doesn't want anything to do with you." 

"I think I can live with that. Do you… does he know how it happen? Or how to reverse it? Is he withholding information?"

"He seems to think you hurt Bruce so much he mentally killed himself." Clint wandered if Tony was about to cry. 

"Prof X says that he is still in there, so no need to take the mental tuxedo to the mental dry cleaners for the mental funeral yet."

And he was joking again. Clint couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't know if Stark was emotionally retarded or if he was trying to hide that he actually cared behind his stupid jokes and his stupid face. He didn't care one way or the other. 

"Whatever. I came here to tell you one thing. I know what happened was because of you, and if you try to "cure" him and end up making the Hulk disappear, I would kill you slowly with sewing needles."

When he walked out he threw a knife and exploded the fire extinguisher. It was childish, but he handled the conversation do maturely he could afford it. 

***

"Fellow warriors! I have come back from battle! And I bear gifts!" JARVIS was projecting Thor's thunder voice through the entire mansion. Hulk looked at Clint as if he was asking him what to do. They were sitting together at Clint's room, watching together some chat show. The Hulk likes to watch television, but he didn't really care what he was watching and never flipped channels. 

"I think he liked you. Especially considering the fact you punched him to the ground with no reason at all. I think you would be okay."

"Friends!" Thor shouted when he saw them coming. He finished hugging Steve and managed to hug Clint before he got the chance to resist. After a moment of hesitation he hugged the Hulk as well. 

"Should I assume from the presence of my green oger friend that you have just come back from a battle yourselves?" 

"Funny story actually…" 

Tony managed to tell Thor the whole story, excluding the parts Clint really didn't want to think about. 

Thor big smile slowly dropped and he looked as serious as he looked when he first saw his brother after the battle in New York. 

He went to the Hulk and put his arm up on his giant shoulder. 

"I think I know how to help you friend, would you come back with me to Asgard?"

The Hulk looked at Clint, who nodded with encouragement, then looked back at Thor.

"Yes".


End file.
